Baby ranger weapons/shield question
 

Newbie ranger here, just hit level 17. That's when we get dual wield and I have trained that skill at the trainer.

I've acquired two magic 1H slash weapons, one is 24delay 7dmg, other is 22delay 6dmg. [One of them has a proc but not until lvl25 so that part is irrelevant to my considerations right now.] I also have a Shiny Brass Shield.

Am I better off wielding the best weapon plus the shield, or both weapons? Is my ideal setup different depending on whether I am soloing or grouping? Some other variable?

If the best answer is the two weapons, then which weapon logically goes into which slot?

All experienced comments are very welcome. And no need to assume that I know even the basics about rangering...

I'd use weapon and shield. For some reason you can get duel wield skill ups while you have a shield in your secondary slot. Test using an offhand weapon occasionally to see if it is producing a satisfactory number of swings for you. It isn't until like 150 skill you can duelwield/double attack with the offhand anyway.

Another option is to get a decent 2h. A Gigantic Zweihander will do you good till your late 30's when dual wield gets reasonable. A Bone Bladed Claymore isn't a bad option if you need to save up for the GZ.

Use shortsword of Morin in main hand and the ebony blade in off hand till it starts procing. I assume those are the two weapons you are talking about based off delay. You have waited 17 level to look cool using two weapons. Screw the shield, go go fashion quest.

In regards to which weapon you want in your main-hand, the highest DPS weapon. So in this case the 7/24 weapon.

Divide the damage by the delay to get a weapon's ratio:
7/24 = 0.291 <-- Better
6/22 = 0.272

Your offhand will only attack every so often, your main-hand will attack every chance it gets, so maximize your damage output.

In addition, at level 28, there’s a main-hand damage bonus you want applied as often as possible, so at level 28 and beyond I would roll with the 6/22 (which will effectively be 7/22) in MH and 7/24 in OH.

8/24 is better than 7/22 tho? Also after 25 with ebony bladed sword main hand you will get more root procs, which is something to consider.

I've recently leveled a Ranger to 30 and here's my opinion fwiw. Kiss the shield goodbye and embrace Dual Wield and Two-Handers. The best option for you is a two-hander until your off-hand is striking enough in a fight.. usually around 130~ skill it starts really being noticeable and 150+ you can dual attack on your OH attacks. I used a Shiny Brass Halberd and it blew any of my dual wield combos out of the water until lvl 26 or so. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the basic calculation when comparing weapons is (bonus dmg + (wep dmg*2)) / delay right? So the melee bonus isn't actually making it a 7/22 more like a 6.5/22. At every level 1-50 the SSoMorin is inferior to the Ebony Bladed Sword and should be relegated to the OH slot to be replaced with another Ebony Bladed Sword, Sharkjaw Cutlass, or (eventually) Electrum Bladed Wakizashi.

Ebony Bladed Sword 0 7 24 0.5833333333
Short Sword of Morin 0 6 22 0.5454545455

Ebony Bladed Sword 1 7 24 0.625
Short Sword of Morin 1 6 22 0.5909090909

Ebony Bladed Sword 8 7 24 0.9166666667
Short Sword of Morin 8 6 22 0.9090909091

I stand corrected, I did not play out the entire formula.

100% ditch the shield. Spend the 50p and get a second ebony bladed sword at 25 and/or grab a gigantic zweihander (4-500p) and use that until mid-upper 30s. On my ranger, zweihander outperformed dual wield until around level 36-37. From mid-30s transition to full-time dual wield, but maybe keep a 2h bagged for killing mobs with damage shields.